Karen and Michael Answer Questions of the Week (Audio Teleseminar Nov. 11, 2010) – Top 1% and Top 5%

posted by Karen Quinn, The Testing Mom - November 12th, 2010

[audio:https://cdn.testingmom.com/uploads/Karen-Michael-weekly-QA-nov11-2010.mp3]

Listen to the teleseminar above. Here are the questions answered during this 36 minute teleseminar.

1. Thank You for these fun activities, they have been very helpful for me and my 4 year old daugther.  I also wanted to know what kind of activities can i do for my 4 year old to improve her verbal skills and vocabulary.

2. Any tips for helping a child get used to the listening questions on the OLSAT?  They seem to have so many parts and on testing day they can’t be repeated (even though I have been repeating part of the questions in practice…bad mama).  Should the child cross wrong ones off as they listen the first time, should they try to memorize the questions, should they be looking at all 4 pics while the question is being read?  Any way to conquer these 3 or 4 part questions.

Questions I am talking about: Point to the black cat that’s next to the tree between two white cats with bells on their neck.

3. Should I mention to my child’s ERB tester that my child also recently sat for the SB ?  I was just wondering because knowing my chatty child, she might mention her prior testing experience (“I just did think with Miss Jane last week”) or when she gets to a series of questions which are on both tests (vocab, matrix ques.) saying she knows how to do these problems without instruction which could smell like prep to the tester.

4. Could you provide guidance on constructing a new cover story for the reason my child is taking another test so close in time to the first test?  She seemed to buy the story the first time that the nice teacher wanted to see what 4 year olds know, but do I even try to use the same story again this time?  I’d imagine she’d find that fishy….

5. We’re moving to NYC from upstate. What’s the process prior to us moving to NYC?

6. What schools do children take the G&T test for pre-k? What happens at the school?

7. We’ve been having some issues with our son at school. His curriculum last year did not prepare him for the curriculum at PS234, so he’s behind the other kids. I’m working a lot with him at home. He seems to find writing the most difficult, though he’s behind in all areas. I’m doing a lot to help him, working extra hours on the weekend on his lower case letters and playing educational games. I realize now I should have been doing this all along, but better late than never. I’m also trying to keep his self esteem high because I see how when he feels like he’s stupid because he can’t do something, he doesn’t want to try it at all. Now that I’ve got his self esteem up he’s trying to read everything around him and also do math problems. I’m really proud of him, but mostly I feel guilty about having spent these last years distracted by my own problems and my career. But now I know what needs to be done and I’m doing it. Any more suggestions?

8.  I am having some anxiety about my daughter taking the olsat test because I’ve been getting report from the teacher that when she reads she doesn’t comprehend in term of telling back the story. In other words she is not expressing herself in telling back the story. She gets shut down. The teacher told me also that she doesn’t follow instruction because she feels like she knows what to do so in the long run she is making mistakes. I feel like she will do the same thing when she is taking the test.  What can I do?